Shredder

ABSTRACT

A shredding machine having knives rotating about a vertical axis in a shredding housing. A hopper is positioned atop the housing and delivers material through an inlet to the shredding space. An outlet from the space is adjacent the inlet. Stationary baffles interfit with the rotating knives to cut and tear material within the housing.

I United States Patent [72] lnvcntojr Robert D. Lautzenheiser [56] References Cited mum, UNITED STATES PATENTS 1211 Appl. No. 71.425

- 3,412,770 11/1968 Johnson 241/101MX [22] Filed Sept. 11,1970 1 2,825,377 3/1958 Ostrowsk1 .4 241/101 M X [451 3527 278 9/1970 1 h 241 101 [73] Assignee The Red Cross Manufacturing Corp. 0 I M X Primary ExammerDonald G. Kelly AttorneyMann, Brown, McWilliams & Bradway [541 SHREDDER 9 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs. [52] US. Cl 241/188 R, ABSTRACT: A shredding machine having knives rotating 241/101 M, 241/190, 241/261, 241/285 B about a vertical axis in a shredding housing. A hopper is posi- [51] Int. Cl 2802c 18/06, tioned atop the housing and delivers material through an inlet B02c 13/18, B021: 13/382 to the shredding space. An outlet from the space is adjacent [50] Field of Search 241/101 M. the inlet. Stationary baffles interfit with the rotating knives to cut and tear material within the housing.

PATENTED JUL 20 1971 SHEU 1 UF 2 INVENTOR ROBERT D. LAUTZENHElSER BY Wm, M

ATTORNEYS PATENTEDJUlZO can 3 593 930 SHEET 2 0F 2 lNVENTOR ROBERT D. LAUTZENHEISER BY v ORNEYS ATT SHREDDER The present invention is directed to new and useful improvements in shredding machines and is particularly con cerned with improvements which facilitate the shredding operation.

The major purposes of the present invention are to arrange a motor driven portable shredder in a manner providing a compact, efficient, and economical assembly; to arrange a shredder so that the direction of feed of materials through a receiving hopper is changed from a generally vertical direction to a generally horizontal, radial path with respect to rotating shredding knives to thereby minimize backflow of material towards the user; and to arrange such a shredding machine so that all operative parts thereof are easily disassembled and reassembled when cleaning or service is necessary.

These and other purposes will appear from time to time in the ensuing specification and claims when taken with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a shredding machine incorporating the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a shredding housing utilized in the assembly illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a hinged lid assembly for a hopper illustrated in FIG. I;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of an inlet utilized in the shredding housing illustrated in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the various parts of the shredding machine illustrated in FIGS. 1-4;

FIG. 6 is an elevational view of certain baffles utilized in the shredding housing illustrated in FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a side view of a hopper illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 5; and

FIG. 8 is a plan viewof a hopper mounting lug.

Like elements are designated by like characters throughout the specification and drawings.

With specific reference now to the drawings, and in the first instance to FIG. 1, the numeral 10 designates a shredding housing. Housing 10 is supported for ground-traversing movement upon a pair of wheels which are rotatably mounted on axles fixed to a lower portion of the housing. A supporting stand 12 is fixed to, and depends from, a side ofthe housing 10 remote from the wheels 11 so that the housing may be supported on the ground by the wheels 11 and stand 12. A drive motor 13, which may conveniently take the form of a lawn mower type of gasoline engine having a vertical output shaft, is supported on the upper part of housing 10. A feed hopper generally designated at 14 is supported on housing 10 and in cludes a generally rectangular opening 15 in the top thereof. Feed hopper 14 is formed with walls I6 which define a generally vertically and downwardly open feed spout, and an upwardly and forwardly inclined lower wall 17 which extends over the motor 13. A lid or cover 18 is hinged to the upper rear wall of the hopper to partially overlie the opening to the hopper.

Lid 18 is adapted to overlie the entrance space through the downwardly directed spout l6. Lid 18, as will be seen in FIG. 3, is adapted to be held in a selected angular position relative to the top wall 15. Top wall 15 is formed with a curvilinear and downwardly concave rim 1 9, and lid 18 includes an end 20 of matching cross section. A bolt 21 is passed through the rim l9 and through an elongated slot 21 in the curvilinear portion 20 whereby loosening of nut 23 on bolt 21 allows the lid 18 to be swung upwardly from a position flush against rim l5 and positions extending upwardly therefrom at a selected angle as illustrate in FIG. 3. Tightening of the nut 23 holds the lid in a selected position of adjustment.

As will be seen in FIG. 2, housing 10 is formed with a generally semicircular, vertically extending wall 24 and one wall 25 which is formed generally tangentially of the semicircular wall portion 24 at a point aligned with the center of the wall 24. Wall 25 is the outer wall of a discharge opening. As

will be noted, the generally cylindrical sidewall of the housing continues its cylindrical form on the side opposite from the discharge side to a point approximately 60 past the center. At this point an outer sidewall 26 extends laterally from the cylin' drical sidewall portion in parallelism with the tangential sidewall 25. A bottom wall 27 spans these wall portions to close the bottom of the enclosure. A dividing or partition wall 28 is spaced between the walls 25 and 26 so as to divide the space between the walls 25 and 26 into an inlet 29 and an outlet 30. An inclined wall 31 extends between wall portions 26 and 28 and is inclined downwardly and toward semicircular wall portion 24. Wall 26 is provided with a plurality of vertically spaced slots 26 a which extend from the inner end of wall 26 to a point aligned with the junction of walls 26 and 24. Wall 28 has similar slots.

The deflecting wall 31 is preferably given a slightly curvilinear form so that the lower edge thereof which is fixed to the bottom wall 27 is formed on a circle about the axis of the cylindrical sidewall portion 24 of the housing. This curvilinear form provides a concave surface facing upwardly and inwardly towards the housing and this tends to promote the flow of material toward the center of the inlet opening.

The top of the enclosure thus formed is closed by a mounting plate 32 for engine 13, the inlet spout 16 of the hopper and a plate 33 which overlies the outlet space between the wall portions 25 and 28. Plate 33 is fixed to walls 26 and 28. The plate 32 and plate 33 thus provide a means defining a top wall for the shredding space and outlet space.

Spout 16 of hopper I4 has a downwardly decreasing crosssectional area and the opening at the lower portion of the spout is adapted to fit with and match the inlet opening to the housing between sidewall 26 and dividing wall 28.

The mounting plate 32 has a plurality of bolts 34 fixed thereto which are adapted to be received in slots 35 in the upper edge of the housing wall and secured to the housing wall by nuts which clamp the engine and plate in place. A plate 36 extends between the walls 25 and 26 and is adapted for abutting relation with a flange 37 on the mounting pad.

The vertically disposed output shaft 38 of the engine has a plurality of vertically spaced shredding knives 39 and 40 bolted thereto with spacers therebetween (as seen in FIG. 5) so that when the engine is mounted on the housing, the knives rotate about an axis which is coaxial with the axis of the semicircular wall portion 24. The outer ends of these knives develop an are which is slightly spaced from the inner portion of the semicircular sidewall 24 and deflector wall 3]. The plural blades are preferably positioned on the output shaft 38 of the engine so that they are equidistantly spaced. The blades may be sharpened but in some cases it is advantageous to provide blunt side edges for the blades with a very shallow rake so that the shredding action involved is more of a breaking or tearing than a simple shearing action. The wall material between the slots 26a define stationary breaker bars which extend inwardly. The rotary knives extend into the spaces 26a between these bars as will be seen in FIG. 4. Additional stationary breaker bars 41 are spaced vertically from one another to provide open spaces Ma therebetween and are fixed to the inner wall of the cylindrical housing at points spaced equidistantly from the walls 26 and 28.

In the event two knives are used, the knives are spaced so as to pass within the upper and lower slots 26a and 41a. Three knives may be used, in which case the knives are positioned to pass within all of the spaces 26a and 41a.

Hopper i4 is adapted to be fixed to the shredding housing by positioning the outlet opening of the spout 16 over the inlet opening between wall portions 26 and 28. The opening through the spout generally matches the size and configuration of the inlet opening between walls 26 and 28 and the stabilizing bar 36. The lower end of the hopper includes a laterally extending plate 42 which is adapted, when the hopper is in the correct position, to be flush against the plate 33 over the outlet opening. A bolt 43 is used to fix plate 42 to the plate 33 and thus secure the hopper in position.

,The lower end of the spout 16 also has a lateral flange 44 on the side thereof opposite to flange 42. This flange 44 is notched as at45 so that a locator stud 46 which is fixed to the 41 where it is forced inwardly toward the knives 39 and 40. By

virtue of the lid 18 which overlies the space through the spout 16, the course of material is generally along a path parallel to that of the inclined wall 17, then down through the spout where the deflector plate 31 changes the direction of material to reverse it from the original feed direction and force the material generally radially inwardly toward the rotating knives. The rotating knives perform some cutting and breaking action as the material initially reaches the cutting area described by the circular space developed by the knives during their rotation. Material is propelled by the knives through the spaces 26a and then through the spaces 410 between breaker bars 41 where it is chopped or ground into smaller particles. The shredded material is propelled out through the discharge 30. The speed of rotation of the knives is relatively high so that the cutting action immediately breaks particles into smaller sizes before the material reaches the cutting area between the knives and the breaker bars or baffles 41. Material is stripped from the knives as the knives pass through the spaces 26a in wall 28. The result is a very efficient comminuting action on the material,

The change of direction in the movement of material between the upper part of the hopper and the point of entrance into the cutting area together with the lid 18 provides for operator safety. Any material that tends to be impelled by the knives back toward the deflector plate 31 is projected more or less upwardly against the lid 18.

Arrangement of the inlet and outlet adjacent one another provides a compact arrangement while at the same time allowing a maximum working area for the blades between the inlet and the outlet. ln some circumstances, as when shredding stalks and vines, the lid 18 may be moved to a near vertical position to allow a direct downward feed into the spout l6. Possibility of materials being propelled back up the spout in such cases is remote and the direct downward feed may be utilized in such instances.

1 claim:

1. A shredding machine including a housing defining a partially circular shredding space, vertically spaced, rotatable shredding knives within said space, and means for driving said knives about an axis generally coaxial with the center of said circular space, said housing having an upwardly open inlet and a laterally open outlet positioned side-by-side and adjacent the outer are developed by said knives during rotation thereof, a feed hopper positioned over said inlet, said inlet and said outlet being defined by spaced outer walls and an intermediate wall dividing the space between said outer walls into said inlet and said outlet, the intermediate wall and the wall defining the outer wall of said inlet having vertically spaced slots on the inner portions thereof, said knives being formed and adapted to pass within said slots.

2. The structure of claim 1 characterized by and including vertically spaced breaker bars in said shredding space and fixed to said housing at points spaced from said intermediate wall and said last named outer wall.

3. A shredding machine including a housing defining a partially circular shredding space, rotatable shredding means within said space, and means for driving said shredding means about an axis generally coaxial with the center of said circular space, said housing including spaced outer walls upstanding from a bottom wall, said walls being positioned at one side of the outer are developed by said rotatable shredding means during rotation thereof, an intermediate partition wall structure upstanding from said bottom wall and between said outer walls to divide the space between said spaced walls into separateflow spaces ositioned adjacent one another, said housing including a si ewall extending around said space and connected to said spaced outer walls, said housing including means defining a top wall overlying said shredding space and the space between said intermediate wall structure and one of said spaced walls whereby said spaced walls and intermediate wall define an upwardly open inlet and a laterally open outlet positioned adjacent one another, a rear wall extending between said intermediate wall structure and the outer wall defining the inlet, and a feed hopper positioned over said inlet.

4. The machine of claim 3 wherein said rear wall is inclined downwardly and forwardly toward said space to direct material radially toward said space.

5. A shredding machine as set forth in claim 3 wherein said rotatable shredding means are defined by vertically spaced blades within said space, and the outer wall defining said inlet is extended inwardly into said shredding space and has vertically spaced slots therein for the passage of said rotatable shredding blades therethrough.

6. A shredding machine as set forth in claim 3 wherein said rotatable shredding means are defined by vertically spaced blades within said space, and breaker bar structures are positioned around said shredding space in spaced relation and extending into the are developed by said blades during rotation thereof, said breaker bar structure being in the form of plate structures having vertically spaced slots therein for the passage of said blades therethrough.

7. The structure of claim 6 wherein said hopper has an upper wall surrounding an inlet opening to the hopper, said upper wall carrying a lid formed and adapted to overlie the inlet opening in said housing, the upper edge of said hopper and said lid having matching curvilinear portions positioned flush with one another to allow rotation of said lid to a selected angular position relative to the upper part of said hopper, and means for holding said lid in a selected position of adjustment relative to said hopper.

8. The structure of claim 6 wherein said driving means is a motor carrying said shredding blades on the output shaft thereof, said motor being secured to a section of said top wall overlying said shredding space, said top wall section and motor being detachably secured to said sidewall.

9. The structure of claim 8 wherein one of said breaker bar structures is formed as an extension of the outer wall defining said inlet. 

1. A shredding machine including a housing defining a partially circular shredding space, vertically spaced, rotatable shredding knives within said space, and means for driving said knives about an axis generally coaxial with the center of said circular space, said housing having an upwardly open inlet and a laterally open outlet positioned side-by-side and adjacent the outer arc developed by said knives during rotation thereof, a feed hopper positioned over said inlet, said inlet and said outlet being defined by spaced outer walls and an intermediate wall dividing the space between said outer walls into said inlet and said outlet, the intermediate wall and the wall defining the outer wall of said inlet having vertically spaced slots on the inner portions thereof, said knives being formed and adapted to pass within said slots.
 2. The structure of claim 1 characterized by and including vertically spaced breaker bars in said shredding space and fixed to said housing at points spaced from said intermediate wall and said last named outer wall.
 3. A shredding machine including a housing defining a partially circular shredding space, rotatable shredding means within said space, and means for driving said shredding means about an axis generally coaxial with the center of said circular space, said housing including spaced outer walls upstanding from a bottom wall, said walls being positioned at one side of the outer arc developed by said rotatable shredding means during rotation thereof, an intermediate partition wall structure upstanding from said bottom wall and between said outer walls to divide the space between said spaced walls into separate flow spaces positioned adjacent one another, said housing including a sidewall extending around said space and connected to said spaced outer walls, said housing including means defining a top wall overlying said shredding space and the space between said intermediate wall structure and one of said spaced walls whereby said spaced walls and intermediate wall define an upwardly open inlet and a laterally open outlet positioned adjacent one another, a rear wall extending between said intermediate wall structure and the outer wall defining the inlet, and a feed hopper positioned over said inlet.
 4. The machine of claim 3 wherein said rear wall is inclined downwardly and forwardly toward said space to direct material radially toward said space.
 5. A shredding machine as set forth in claim 3 wherein said rotatable shredding means are defined by vertically spaced blades within said space, and the outer wall defining said inlet is extended inwardly into said shredding space and has vertically spaced slots therein for the passage of said rotatable shredding blades therethrough.
 6. A shredding machine as set forth in claim 3 wherein said rotatable shredding means are defined by vertically spaced blades within said space, and breaker bar structures are positioned around said shredding space in spaced relation and extending into the arc developed by said blades during rotation thereof, said breaker bar structure being in the form of plate structures having vertically spaced slots therein for the passage of said blades therethrough.
 7. The structure of claim 6 wherein said hopper has an upper wall surrounding an inlet opening to the hopper, said upper wall carrying a lid formed and adapted to overlie the inlet opening in said housing, the upper edge of said hopper and said lid having matching curvilinear portions positioned flush with one another to allow rotation of said lid to a selected angular position relative to the upper part of said hopper, and means for holding said lid in a selected position of adjustment relative to said hopper.
 8. The structure of claim 6 wherein said driving means is a motor carrying said shredding blades on the output shaft thereof, said motor being secured to a section of said top wall overlying said shredding space, said top wall section and motor being detachably secured to said sidewall.
 9. The structure of claim 8 wherein one of said breaker bar structures is formed as an extension of the outer wall defining said inlet. 